Spool supporting and positioning means in photographic printers



Dec. 22, 1942. w. H. RxcHARDs 2,305,536 I SPOOL SUPPORTING AND POSITIONING MEANS IN A PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTEIi Original Filed May 8, 1959 Patented Dec. 22, 1942 SPOOL SUPPORTING AND POSITIONING MEANS IN PHO'ICOGRPHIC PRINTERS William H. Richards, Dayton, Ohio Original application May 8, 1939, Serial No.

272,444, now Patent No. 2,255,811, dated September 16, 1941.

Divided and this application May 15, 1941, Serial No. 393,585

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as

amended April 30, 1928; 370 O. G. 757) 4 Claims.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This application is a division of application on a photographic printer, Serial No. 272,444, led May 8, 1939, now Patent No. 2,255,811, issued September 16, 1941.

This invention relates to a mechanism in the photographic printer for supporting in operative position the negative-carrying spools; for holding them in adjusted position; and for maintaining the negative carried thereby in a taut position.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a top plan View, partly in section, taken along the lines l--I of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal view taken along the lines 2 2 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a cross section taken along the lines 3-3 of Fig. l.

The printer is made up of spool-carrying end members l, a lamp-carrying bottom member 2, a back member 3, and a front member 4. The printer also includes a platen I2; diffusing glass I0, suported on projections il; combined support and masking glass 9, supported on portions 8; means 28 for positioning sensitized paper P; and various types of lights W, R, and A-all of which is described with more particularity in the aforementioned parent application.

Coming now to the negative-carrying-spoolsupporting and positioning means constituting the subject matter of the present invention, end members I are provided with a pair of hollow sleeve portions la for slidably receiving bearing shafts 29. The inner ends 29o of these bearing shafts are receivable in suitable recesses S1 in the ends of the negative-carrying spool S. Since the structure for supporting each end of the spool is similar, that at one end only will be described. Each bearing shaft 29 is recessed at 29a to receive a spring-pressed pin 3U having an enlarged portion 3l thereon adapted to project into the path of movement of shoulder 29D of shaft 29, to prevent unwanted disengagement of shaft 29 from the spool.

Handle 32, suitably pivotally mounted on pin 32a carried by the outer end of the recessed or split portion of bearing shaft 29, is adapted to engage the end of pin 30. Pressure may be exerted on finger-engaging portions 32h to press pin 30 inwardly against spring 30a a sufficient path of movement of shoulder 29D and permit withdrawal of shaft 29 from the spool S.

A brake for holding the spool S in taut position comprises a shaft 33 slidably urged against one side of spool S by means of spring 34. Member 33a., adjustably mounted in end member l by being screw-threaded therethrough, serves to position spool S. As shown in Fig. 3, the head of member 33 is provided with a positioning pin 35. When member 33 is in braking position, pin 35 fits into recess 36 as shown in Fig. 3. By withdrawing pin 35 from recess 36 and rotating slightly, member B will be drawn away from the spool, and the braking action accordingly will be rendered inoperative.

Various modifications may be made of the device, and it ifs/intended to be limited only by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a photographic printer provided with a spool having shaft-receiving openings therein, means for detachably connecting said spool to said printer, comprising: aligned socket-bearing members carried by said printer, slotted bearing shafts slidably mounted in said socket-bearing members and receivable in said shaft-receiving openings for supporting said spool, springpressed plungers carried by said printer and removably received in the slotted portions of said bearingl shafts for selectively preventing retraction of said bearing shafts from spool-supporting position, lever means pivotally connected to said bearing shafts and operatively engaging said plungers for first moving the same to bearingshaft-releasing position and for subsequently moving said bearing shafts out of engagement with said spool.

2. Mechanism for releasably supporting a spool, comprising a pair of aligned bearing members, slotted shaft means carried by each of said bearing members and slidable into supporting engagement with said spool, spring-pressed means slidably carried by each of said bearing members and removably received in the slotted portion of said shaft means for selectively preventing retraction of said shaft means from spool-supporting position, lever means pivotally attached to each of said shaft means and operatively engaging said spring-pressed means for first moving the same to inoperative position and for subsequently moving said shaft means out of engagement with said spool.

3. A device as recited in claim 2, in which each of said levers is pivotally connected at the outerdistance to move portion 3l thereof out of the 55 most end thereof to the said shaft means, and

is provided at the innermost end thereof with a thumb-engaging portion.

4. Mechanism for releasably supporting a spool having rimmed ends, comprising aligned bearing members, shaft means carried by said bearing members and slidable into supporting engagement with said spool, means for holding said shaft means in spool-supporting position with freedom for slight lateral movement, and

combined positioning-and-braking means ineluding means carried by one of said bearing members for engaging the outer side of one rim of said spool, and a spring-pressed positioning-andbraking means carried by the other of said bearing members and engaging the outer side of the other rim of said spool.

WILLIAM H. RICHARDS. 

